Rihanna addresses speculation she’s retired from music
NEW YORK — Rihanna isn’t dropping the mic just yet, contrary to recent fashion choices that left the internet fearing her official retirement from music.
On the contrary, the “Don’t Stop the Music” singer, 36, told Entertainment Tonight on Monday that she’s “prepared to go back into the studio” and churn out her long-awaited ninth studio album.
“I think that music, for me, is a new discovery,” said the Grammy winner, who hasn’t released a studio album since 2016’s “Anti.”
“I’m rediscovering things,” she added. “I have been working on the [new] album for so long that I kinda put all that stuff aside and now I’m prepared to go back in the studio. I’m gonna start — give me a second!”
Noting that she’s “starting over,” the Barbadian singer said she doesn’t “want to neglect the songs that I have” and wants to “listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective and then see what applies and what I’m still in love with.”
Rihanna cemented her plans for new music just days after she was spotted in New York City, sporting a shirt that read, “I’m Retired” — sparking a flurry of concern that “R9” was a pipe dream for fans. But in smaller font beneath, the shirt also said, “This Is As Dressed Up As I Get.”
“People got triggered with that retired word,” the Fenty mogul told ET. “They were like, ‘We’re never getting an album now.’ No one read the other line.”
Rihanna also teased her family plans on Monday, noting that while she and partner A$AP Rocky, with whom she shares two young sons, are not currently expecting, she certainly sees that in their future.
“I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking,” she told the outlet when asked if she plans to expand the family. “I would definitely have more kids.”
